On Thursday, January 21, the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) decided that the interest rates on the main refinancing operations (MRO), on the marginal lending facility and on the deposit facility will remain unchanged at 0.05 per cent, 0.30 per cent and -0.30 per cent, respectively.
ECB Monetary Operations
On Monday, January 18, the ECB announced its weekly MRO. The operation was conducted the following day and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €65.20 billion, €0.55 billion lower than the bid amount of the previous week. The amount was allotted in full at a fixed rate equivalent to the prevailing MRO rate of 0.05 per cent, in accordance with current ECB policy.
On Wednesday, January 20, the ECB conducted a seven-day US dollar funding operation through collateralised lending in conjunction with the US Federal Reserve. This operation attracted bids of $0.10 billion, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 0.86 per cent.
Domestic Treasury bill market
In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 91-day and 182-day bills maturing on April 21 and July 21, respectively. Bids of €44 million were submitted for the 91-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €15 million, while bids of €21 million were submitted for the 182-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €9 million. Since no bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills increased by €24 million, to stand at €306.05 million.
The yield from the 91-day bill auction was -0.150 per cent, down by 0.7 basis point from bids with a similar tenor issued on January 14, 2016, representing a bid price of 100.0379 per 100 nominal. The yield from the 182-day bill auction was -0.120 per cent, unchanged from bids with a similar tenor issued on January 14, representing a bid price of 100.0607 per 100 nominal.
During the week under review, there was no trading on the Malta Stock Exchange.
Today the Treasury will invite tenders for 91-day and 182-day bills maturing on April 28 and July 28, respectively.